Guidance for (Acting) Returning Officers administering a UK Parliamentary election in Great Britain

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Publishing the notice of situation of polling stations

You must publish the notice of situation of polling stations. It must give public notice of:1  

  • the situation of each polling station in the area
  • the description of voters entitled to vote there

If no objections to nominations have been received, you must publish the notice no later than 5pm on the last day for the delivery of nomination papers.

If objections have been lodged, you must publish the notice on the next working day after the last day for delivery of nomination papers.2  

You may choose to combine the notice of the situation of polling stations with the statement of persons nominated and notice of poll. 

You should liaise with the local government ROs within your area to ensure you have all of the relevant information regarding elections and by-elections in other local authorities and the location of polling stations to enable you to produce the notice of situation of polling stations.

You should have robust proof-checking processes in place to ensure that there are no errors on the notice of situation of polling stations.

You can find more information about proof checking in our quality assurance guidance, and you can find a quality assurance checklist here.

Quality Assurance Guidance for ROs (PDF)

You must give a copy of the relevant notice of situation of polling stations and descriptions of voters entitled to vote there to all election agents as soon as practicable after giving the notice.3

You should also give a copy of the relevant notice to all candidates. 

You should also be prepared to make these notices available to any accredited observers on request.

Last updated: 19 December 2023